The present invention relates to an apparatus for the control of a mobile carrier with intelligence stored on it for repetition of a carrier sequence between a pre-selectable start- and end-position in a machine for recording and reproducing said intelligence. Typical examples of such machines are magnetic tape recorders.
Combinations of such apparatus with the above outlined machines are often employed by students or teachers, e.g., in language or music schools. An important prerequisite for utility of such apparatus is that the operations involving memorizing selected portions of the carriers should be simple so that each such operation can be carried out with little loss in time and does not detract the user's attention from the knowledge to be gained by perceiving the intelligence (i.e., by listening to sound which is recorded on magnetic tape, on a wire, drum, disc or another carrier). In other words, the controls which must be manipulated should be simple so that the user will not be fascinated by and adsorbed in the task of pulling, pushing, pivoting, touching or otherwise actuating various knobs, buttons, levers, heat-sensitive switches or orther types of actuating and control elements. Absorption into the task of operating the apparatus invariably affects the user's ability to concentrate upon the sound which is recorded on the carrier.
A further important requirement which must be met by apparatus of the above outlined character is that the user should be in a position to rely on the memory of the apparatus, i.e., that the user can relax and devote his or her attention to playback of the carrier as soon as the manipulations which are needed to store information denoting selected parts of the carrier (namely, that portion of the carrier which stores a selected amount of intelligence) are completed.